The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-23
SreCia1 Contributors.
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REASON AND INSTINCT.
BY Rev. WILLIAM TUCKER, d. D.
Mount Gilead, o.

What is the relation of life to instinct,
and of instinct to reason How does
the brute differ from the plant on the
one side, and man on the other =?
The animal occupies higher position
in the scale of being than the plant, and
a lower position than man; but is this
difference one of nature, or only one of
degree Is instinct only higher de-
gree of the same kind of life we find in
the plant, and reason only a higher
order of instinct, or is there differ
ence in the nature and constitution of
the two? There is evidently differ
ence in nature, kind and quality of be-
ing, between life and instinct, and in
stinct and reason. The animal differs
from the plant by the possession of
a nervous system more or less perfect.
The function of this system is not life,
for life exists in the plant without it
but it is sensation, instinct, and intelli-
gence. This is difference in the quail
ity of being, and not of quantity only.
We cannot place the animal and plant
on the same plane of being, though
they possess many things in common.
According to the classification of
science they belong to different king
doms of nature. In natural history the
one is known as fora and the other as
faana. The plant does not feed like
the ANIMAL. The individual OF the
one class draw nutriment from the in
organic matters held in solution in the
fluid in which they float; those of the
other subsist on solid particles of or
ganized matter. The plant must work
up into organic form material elements
before they are fit to become the food
of the animal. There is primary dis
tinction, and it lifts the animal in the
scale of being above the plant. 1t is
one important function of the plant in
the vital chemistry of nature, to elab-
crate and prepare the food for the ami
NAL creation. Matter exist for life, life
for sensation, and instinct for reason.
The mineral exist for the vegetable,
the vegetable for the animal, and the
animal for man. The material condi-
tions the chemical, the chemical the
vital; the vital the mental; and the men,
tai the moral and spiritual. The me-
chanical does not cause but only condi-
tions the chemical; the chemical does
not cause but only conditions the vital
action; the vital action does not cause
but only conditions mental action; and
intelligence does not cause but only
conditions moral and spiritual action.
Every lower order of being condi-
tions and prepares the way for that
which is to follow it. But with
every succeeding order there comes
into action a new force that has not
previously manifested itself, and new
laws as indicated by the regular move
ment of the new forces. 1t acts on
that which is below it, controlling, using
and lifting it up to higher plane of
action, and bringing it into new and
wider relations. This gives us the unity
of nature. The unity in diversity, the
harmony in variety, the one in the
many.
But how does instinct differ from
reason, and the animal from man
Man is an animal, but he is more he
has instinct in common with the ami
NAL, and in addition to that he has rea-
son, conscience and taste. No animal
except man has a chi n-and idiots and
degraded men approximate the brute
by having very imperfectly developed
chins. The higher the type of man, the
more perfectly the chin is developed,
and the more widely man is removed
from the brute.
The brute creation has no language
for the expression of abstract thought.
The only part of speech they use is the
interjection by which they express feel
ing. Language is the garment in which
thought clothes itself; and if brutes
were capable of abstract thinking which
is the function of reason, they would
have language in which to express it.
This fact shows their intelligence is
instructive, and not rational. Rational
intelligence is progressive; the intelli-
gence of instinct is stationary. The
brute creation has remained stationary
man alone has made progress. There
has been no perceptible improvement